


The Chronicles of a Lucid Dreamer

by DescendingAngel



Category: Hurts (UK Band)
Genre: Lucid Dreaming, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26630044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DescendingAngel/pseuds/DescendingAngel
Summary: The Chronicles of a Lucid Dreamer follow Adam from an ancient celtic tribe The Brigantes on his adventure, during which he leaves his home to look for a boy he keeps communicating with in his dreams. Of course it’s not an easy task and he has to ask the mysterious Sandman for help, but nobody has ever seen him in person. The legends, traces of golden sand and a blurry memory from Adam’s early childhood are the only clues he has. Will he find the Sandman and fulfill his wish of meeting the boy from his dreams?
Kudos: 1





	1. We’re waiting for the Sandman, but he never hears the call

_ I walked along an almost never ending path, decorated with lightning flowers, which showed me the way. The soft wind bended the purple grass all around me and when I turned around I saw the path behind me was gone. Instead, it was now covered with grass and flowers. I playfully hit the bunch of grass on my right side and made hundreds of fireflies fly up and circle me. I looked up at the night sky and saw something that looked like a fairy. It flew down closer to me and spotted that my guess was correct. I outstretched my hand to it, but I scared the little fairy and it jumped away. _

_ “I’m sorry,” I apologised and pulled my hand back. _

_ The fairy didn’t say anything, only flew along the path and I had no other option than to follow this magical creature. We went faster and faster, until we reached a huge meadow with a single bench in the middle. I sat down on it and looked down at the shining forest. _

_ “Who are you?” I heard someone say. When I turned to the direction where it came from I saw a boy around my age standing nearby. _

_ “I’m Adam, you?” _

_ “My name is Theo. How did you get here?” He sat next to me with a confused look. _

_ “I followed a fairy.” _

_ “Me too, but I mean, like here. Into this world.” It was my turn to look at him in confusion. _

_ “This world?” _

_ “You’re in my dream, this world is mine.” _

My eyes snapped open and I found myself in our little house. I was laying in my small bed, my parents nowhere around.

“They must be outside, it’s morning already,” I thought to myself.

I didn’t waste any more time and got up from under the covers. The sun shone through some of the cracks on the door and assured me I woke up late again. I quickly got dressed and ran out to search for my mum. The dream I had this night was still stuck in my head and I knew she would have all the answers, she always did.

“Mum! Mum!” I yelled when I spotted her under a tree with my little brother Jak.

“Good morning, darling.” She smiled and gave me a kiss on my forehead when I reached her.

“You won’t believe what I dreamed about!” I squeaked with excitement.

“Go on then, what did you dream about?”

“I was in a very beautiful forest and I saw a fairy! A real fairy! I followed it to a big meadow with a bench in the middle and when I sat down I met a boy. His name was Theo and he told me I was in his dream! Can you believe that?” While I was talking I sat on the ground and handed little Jak his favourite toy.

“That’s a very special dream you had. It doesn’t happen to everyone, you know.” She calmly explained.

“What does it mean?”

“Dreams hold much more power than we think, honey. Some people see the future in their dreams and some have a whole new world in them, which they can control. You connected to this boy’s dream for a reason.”

“So he really exists?”

“Yes, he does and you two have a special bond between yourselves, but be careful, it’s very fragile.”

“Can I meet him?”

“Well, if you find him.”

“But how am I supposed to find him?”

“The Sandman holds all the answers, darling. He’s the only one who can answer all of your questions.”

I knew the Sandman. My grandma used to tell me stories about him all the time. He helps people to fall asleep and brings them dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. That’s why I always have the sleepy sand in my eyes when I wake up. But it wasn’t easy to catch him. If he came to bring you dreams, but caught you awake, he would punish you. She told me that instead of nice dreams you would have nightmares the whole night and your eyes would fall out. So how was I supposed to ask him about Theo?

“Adam, I’ve been looking for you!” My dad suddenly appeared next to us, completely out of breath. He must’ve been running around the whole village.

“Dad, I had a special dream and now I must talk to the Sandman, but I don’t want to lose my eyes.” I sadly looked at him, hoping he would give me some advice.

“I heard you can meet him on one of his walks in the forest, but he must come to you by himself. If you’re special to him, he will allow you to talk to him.” He picked me up into his arms as I was very light for him.

“Mum, can I go to the forest today?” I begged her.

“Darling, it’s dangerous, you can’t go.”

“But I need to talk to Sandman!”

“You will once, but not yet, okay?” She put Jak down onto a soft blanket and ruffled my hair.

“Okay,” I said with obvious disappointment.

“But there’s something you  _ can _ do. What about a ride on your favourite horse?” My dad said to lift up my mood.

“Really? Yes, yes, yes!”

“That’s my little boy, let’s go.” He put me down and I ran back to the village.

“Be careful, Adam!” Mum shouted when I was almost gone. She was alway worrying about me, but my dad would take good care of me, she had no reason to be scared!

I spent the whole day with my dad. I was still learning how to ride a horse properly and I was getting better and better each time I tried it. I decided to surprise dad, so I took care of my horse, William, all by myself. He was very proud of me when he returned to the stable.

“It’s time to go to sleep, Adam. Take Jak with you, please.”

“Mum, not yet, please!”

“It’s late, honey. Goodnight.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek and handed me a sleeping Jak.

I went home and put Jak into his crib. I held his little hand for a while before undressing and hopping into my own bed. I turned onto my side, hugged the corner of my cover and closed my eyes. 

A loud sound woke me up in the middle of the night. I quickly sat up and looked around the room. My parents were sleeping, so I left the bed and checked if the sound didn’t wake up Jak. Thankfully, he was still asleep. I was afraid someone was trying to get inside and steal from us, so I quietly tiptoed over to the door and slightly opened them. 

Once I looked through the small crack I saw a very tall figure walking away from our house. They had big dark hair and something that looked like a bunch of black cloth thrown over their body. My sleepy eyes also noticed a small pouch in one of their hands.

Suddenly they stopped and turned around. I got scared and wanted to hide, but I couldn’t move. This person was a man and his white eyes were glowing in the dark. He looked right at me and put a finger to his lips, as a signal to stay quiet. He used the hand with the pouch and when I looked carefully I saw a bit of golden dust...no, sand, sparkling on his fingers. Some of it fell down onto the ground. He smirked, turned around and walked away, leaving a very thin lane of golden sand behind him. 

When I got myself out of the sudden shock I lifted a hand to my eyes. I softly rubbed one of them and looked at my finger, now covered in the golden sparkles.  _ It was the Sandman. _


	2. Sing me to sleep tonight

_ 10 years later _

_ “Are you sure it’s going to work?” Theo asked me, worried about the possibility of our plan succeeding. _

_ “It will, I’m sure about it,” I reassured him and looked up at the night sky. I used all of my leftover power in this current time and made a little heart appear in between the stars. _

_ “Hey, it was my turn!” _

_ We laughed and soon the heart disappeared. Instead, Theo made a tic tac toe game out of nearby stars and started with an x. We continued to play the game, ending up with a draw each time, but to my bad luck, Theo won the next game. _

_ “Yes!” He threw his hands up into the air and laughed at my pretended sad face. _

_ “Congratulations,” I mumbled and rolled my eyes. _

_ You know, the best thing about this world was that you could turn it into anything you wanted. Whatever you imagined would appear here. It was also the only place where I could meet Theo, but unfortunately, not every time I dreamed I went into his world. It took practice and focus to come here if I wasn’t placed here right when I fell asleep.  _

_ So we made a plan. I was two years older than Theo, so I could leave the village and do what I wanted with my life. He couldn’t, yet, so we agreed that I would go and find him. The problem was that this guy had a terrible sense of direction, so the only information I had was to go North. When I asked my dad about what was there, he told me the tribe of Carvetii were situated in the North-West, but Theo insisted that he was from the same tribe as me, the tribe Brigantes. _

_ “I hope I’ll get to see you soon.” Theo got serious for a second and I could see the worry come back to his eyes.  _

_ “Theo, trust me, I will come for you soon.” I put a hand on his shoulder and sent him a smile. _

_ “I trust you.” He smiled as well and suddenly disappeared under my touch. _

_ “Why does he do this every time?” I rolled my eyes and enjoyed the sight in front of me for some more, before I decided to leave as well.  _

The power I had was beyond extraordinary. Even if a few people had the chance to control their dreams at least once, no one could affect it as much as I could. I got the chance to talk to some of them and they were all surprised when I said what I was capable of.

I was the last one to wake up as always, but could you blame me? If you had the power to create your own world however you wanted, you wouldn’t want to leave it too!

“Theo! Theo!” I heard Jak’s childish voice calling out to me.

“Hi.” I sat up on the bed and greeted him when he entered the house.

“Dad let me ride a horse today!” He jumped up and sat opposite me.

“Yeah? How was it?”

“I loved it! I had so much fun!” He giggled.

“Jak? Oh here you are!” Dad came inside and ruffled Jak’s hair when he spotted him on my bed.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.”

“Morning.” I mumbled and wiped the sleepy sand from my eyes.

“You met Theo again?”

“As always.” I chuckled.

“You two are inseparable.” He shook his head and turned around to leave.

“Hey, dad. I want to ask you something.”

“What is it?” He turned back to me and I became nervous. This was it, I was finally going to ask  _ the question _ .

“Jak, can you leave us alone, please?” I looked at his curious eyes that didn’t understand what was going on. He nodded and went outside. At this point even my dad was confused and returned inside, closing the door behind himself.

“What’s going on, Adam?”

“Dad, I want to go and find Theo. I’m old enough to leave on my own and I need to see him.”

“What? Do you realise your brother is growing up and he needs you?”

“We both know you have a better influence on him than I do.”

“But he still needs his big brother! I can’t handle this by myself!”

“I’ll come back, dad! Mum would let me go!” I yelled and didn’t realise what I'd said.

“I know.” He sighed and sat next to me. “I know I can’t stop you, but I must ask, are you sure about this?”

“Yes, I am. This is what I want.” I looked into his eyes to show him I meant it.

“But you’re the one who will explain it to Jak.” He patted my shoulder and left. 

Yeah, that was what I feared the most. Jak was still a kid and I was worried what would happen to him.

Mum died when he was little. He barely remembers her and that makes me very sad. She was a great woman and while I still love my dad, he could never fully replace her. But he was trying and he was doing a pretty good job.

I started packing some stuff that could be useful on my trip, meanwhile I also planned what I would tell Jak once he would see me going away. It would be difficult to explain this to him. His big brother was leaving him, what could be worse? My death probably, but I didn’t dare to even think about it.

I got dressed, took my stuff and went outside to look for dad and Jak. I went across the whole village, getting weird looks from people. It wasn’t every day that someone willingly left. Eventually I managed to find them in the stable. My heart almost cracked when I was looking at my happy little brother learning how to take care of a horse. I thought about everything once again, considering the option of telling Theo I couldn’t leave and look for him, but I wanted to do it, I promised him I would come.

“You’re doing a good job,” I said with a smile as I approached them. Jak turned around and looked up at me. When he spotted the bag I saw the happiness leave his face and felt my heart break into small pieces.

“Are you leaving us?” His voice was trembling.

“Only for a few days, I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

“Where are you going?”

I sighed and got down on my knees to be at his height level. I took in a deep breath before I started explaining.

“I have a very important mission. I have to find one boy who’s waiting for me in the North, but I’m not going to be gone forever, I’ll come back with him.”

He threw his arms around my neck and squeezed me as tightly as his little arms possibly could. When he pulled away with eyes full of tears he was replaced by my dad.

“Good luck, son.” He patted me on the shoulder, hugged Jak, who was still wiping away tears, with his left hand and both of them watched me walk out of the stable.

Hours passed and I felt the fatigue catching up with me. No wonder, I’ve been walking through forests and mountains the entire day.

I found a nice place near a river and decided to make a little camp for the night. I collected some wood and leaves and created a small but cozy shelter.

“That should do,” I said when I stepped back and looked at what I’d created. 

I put my bag inside and went to look for more wood for a fire. Summer was slowly coming to an end and hot days were usually replaced by cold nights. Once I came back, the sun was already setting and I knew I had to hurry up. 

A few minutes later I was sitting beside the fireplace, watching the night sky. It was different than in Theo’s world and definitely less entertaining, especially when I had to enjoy it alone. 

I prepared my bed, or something that could be considered a bed and came back to check on the fire. Setting the entire forest on fire was the last thing I’d like to accomplish, so I had to wait until the wild flames calmed down and I could go to sleep in peace. 

As I was waiting and watching the pieces of coal glow, getting lost in my thoughts in the process, I registered something in the bushes on the other side of the river. 

“An animal is the last thing I need at the moment,” I thought, got up from where I was sitting and walked closer to the water.

I couldn’t see what was on the other side very clearly, but from what I recognised it was a person. They disappeared with the blink of an eye. 

The event was stuck in my mind for the rest of the night. The thought of someone following me wasn’t the best thing to think about while trying to fall asleep, but the exhaustion got the best of me and eventually drifted off into my dreamland.

_ I knew what I wanted to do first. It has been on my mind since the morning. I focused all of my energy on Jak and tried to reach him through my dream. I wanted to invade his dream. _

_ “Jak!” I said excitedly when I saw him in front of me and knew I’d succeeded. _

_ “Adam!” He smiled at me, but I knew he wasn’t in control of his dream. He wasn’t conscious.  _

_ There was no point in trying to have a conversation, and so I walked over to him and gave him a hug. He probably wouldn’t remember it in the morning, but I wanted to be there for him at that moment. _

I woke up in the middle of the night and my first instinct was to look outside my little shelter. Somebody was standing there. I quickly sat up and immediately awoke.

“You’re playing a very dangerous game, Adam.” A deep voice spoke to me.

“What?”

“Playing with dreams like that...you’re crossing a certain line. Don’t let me catch you again, or else there’ll be consequences.” 

I was left alone, wondering what just happened. Then it hit me. I put two and two together and came to a conclusion, that I’d been visited by Sandman for the second time in my life. And I talked to him! He chose me, that was a good sign. I knew I had a chance to properly talk to him and I was going to make sure I wouldn’t waste it. But what did he mean by ‘playing with dreams’? I’ve been doing this since I was a little kid, what was so different now? Unless he meant travelling to someone else’s dream by myself. Was I really that powerful? Was I really crossing a line? How far could I go?

All the questions filled my mind and made me overthink my decision. What if I was making a mistake? Maybe I should go home tomorrow, maybe I shouldn’t push it so far. 

I wanted to contact Theo, but before I fell asleep a certain question came to my mind.  _ Was my power becoming dangerous? _

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to another short story! This one is for all of the fantasy fans out there. Sandman has always been a very interesting character to me and I was looking for an opportunity to write about him for as long as I can remember, so when I got this idea and connected it to lucid dreaming I just had to put him in here. The celtic tribe I’m talking about is called The Brigantes and their territory used to be on a place of today’s Manchester (and others), so I’m sure you understand why I chose this tribe.  
> Well, I hope you’ll enjoy this unusual change in my writing. Thank you for reading <3


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